In response to recent earthquakes, the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer will host a workshop to help residents get earthquake ready.

Registered civil and geotechnical engineer Winston Wu will discuss earthquake basics, take a look at past earthquakes and discuss current news and research related the natural phenomena.

Following a presentation by the city’s fire department, participants can visit the Monterey Park Fire Department mobile unit to participate in hands-on activities to learn how to shut off utilities and obtain drinking water from a water heater.

The event will be held at the library on Sunday, April 13 at 2 p.m. Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library is located at 318 S. Ramona Ave.

A former aide to Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar wants to expand her lawsuit, which alleges retaliation and sexual harassment.

Francine Godoy sued both Huizar and the city last Oct. 17. She is a former deputy chief of staff in Huizar’s 14th District council office.

On March 26, Godoy’s lawyers filed new court papers with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Fahey in which they seek to add a cause of action against the city for alleged failure to prevent sexual harassment and retaliation.

Godoy’s lawyers allege several city employees were “knew about Huizar’s sexual harassment and retaliation against (Godoy),” but failed to take action to stop it as required by law.

Meanwhile, Huizar’s lawyer, Dennis Walsh, filed court papers Friday asking for an order preventing the contents of personnel files and medical records of his client and Godoy, as well as information on their sexual histories, from being made public.

Cynthia Tejeda was both nervous and hopeful as she waited in a long line at the Mexican Consulate Office in Los Angeles last week to speak with an immigration attorney.

Native from Cuernavaca, Morelos Mexico, Tejeda was brought to the U.S. illegally by her parents when she was just 9-years-old, which could mean she is eligible for a reprieve from deportation through a special program that allows undocumented immigrants like her to stay in the country, at least temporarily.

In 2012, President Obama issued an executive order creating the Deferred Action Childhood Arrival or DACA program that allows undocumented immigrants who meet certain criteria to remain in the country without fear of deportation for two years, subject to renewal, and to receive a work permit. Among the requirements, the applicant must have entered the U.S. before his or her 16th birthday, and was under the age of 31 on June 15, 2012, the date the order was signed.

Tejeda, 27, told EGP she at first felt “helpless and sad” because she did not have the money to apply for DACA. The single mother said all the money she earns as a waitress goes to support her three children, ages 9, 2 and 1.

Tejeda is one of the approximately 1.6 million undocumented individuals immigration officials believe are eligible to receive deferred action status. However, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data, fewer than half of those who may qualify have applied.

Last week, the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles opened its doors to would-be applicants to help them with the process. Seventeen immigration attorneys provided free assistance, which at times included sifting through stacks of paperwork only to discover that key records were missing or incomplete.

Carlos M. Sada, Mexican Consul General in Los Angeles, told EGP that a lack of information, fear of deportation and insufficient “economic resources” has kept many from applying. Some worry filing the application will lead immigration officials right to them and they will be deported if their application is denied.

In addition to the age requirements, applicants must provide proof that they have been in the country continuously since 2007 and in the U.S. on June 15, 2012, the day the executive order was signed; are in high school, have graduated or earned a GED certificate; have not been convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanors or pose a criminal threat to the country; or have been honorably discharged from the military.

Knowing what documents are required or considered acceptable for proving eligibility is crucial to completing the process successfully, say attorneys.

So is having the money to pay the application fee.

After nearly two years of saving, Tejeda finally has the $465 she needs to file her application. She is hopeful that she will soon have a work permit, social security number and a driver’s license as a result.

“I can really see a before and after with these documents,” Tejeda told EGP, referring to the possibility that after 19 years of being undocumented, she may no longer have to be afraid.

“I can finally study … provide a better life for my children,” she said, her eyes filling with tears as her emotions start to get the better of her.

But it’s possible that Tejeda was eligible for financial assistance that would have allowed her to apply much earlier.

Sada said the Mexican Consulate offers “up to $1,000” to help undocumented Mexicans pay attorney and USCIS fees, if they have no other resources.

“It is an effort that we are trying”… “for as long as we have available resources,” Sada told EGP. “In the past two years, 2012 and 2013, we allocated $250,000” to support cases where “the young one can’t afford the expense,” Sada explained.

Mexico’s Departamento de Protección (Department of Protection) told EGP via email that the

Mexican consulate has so far helped 261 Mexican students pay their fees. They are currently working with six nonprofit organizations in Mexico to raise money to help more students.

Applicants must provide proof for every year they claim to have been in the country. Each year that goes by means more documentation that must accompany the application. Many times applications are denied or delayed because the applicant did not provide “sufficient evidence of continuous presence” in the country, immigration Attorney Nora E. Phillips told EGP last week while assisting applicants at the Consulate’s workshop.

“You have to prove you have been in the U.S. since June 15, 2007 until the present, including June 15, 2012,” Phillips said. The more time that passes, the more difficult the process becomes, she said.

“A lot of them [DACA applicants] came with a lot of documents and a lot of them came with nothing,” she said. We start the application for those with the information required, but for those who do not have what they need, “we do a quick screening and refer them to attorneys at nonprofit organizations” for follow-up help, she said.

According to USCIS’ latest numbers, as of Feb. 6 of this year, 521,815 applications have been approved. Of those, 403,302 were immigrants from Mexico, followed by 19,089 Salvadorians, 12,339 Hondurans and 12,410 Guatemalans.

According to the USCIS website, any individual who meets the DACA requirements is eligible for deferred status even if they are “in removal proceedings with a final order or with a voluntary departure order, as long as they are not [already] in immigration detention.”

USCIS also states that it is very unlikely individuals who apply but are not granted deferred action will be deported. “If your case does not involve a criminal offense, fraud, or a threat to national security or public safety, your case will not be referred to ICE for removal proceedings,” according to USCIS.

For more information about the DACA process, visit www.uscis.gov/childhoodarrivals. Mexican citizens interested in applying for financial assistance from the Mexican Consulate can call (213) 351-6825.

For the past three or so years, Speech Therapist Vanessa Cervantes has been conducting mini-workshops at the Bell Gardens Library where she provides information to local parents about how a child’s speech develops.

Early Tuesday morning, as their children laugh, listen to stories and take part in arts and craft activities just a few feet away, Cervantes addressed the concerns of the mostly Spanish-speaking mothers and grandmothers who fear their child may be having a speech problem. Some of the women just want more information on how to help their child who in most cases hears Spanish at home, but English at school.

Children enjoy story time at the Bell Gardens library while their mothers and grandmothers attend a speech development workshop a few feet a way. (EGP photo by Nancy Martinez)

“These workshops are about parent education,” said Cervantes, who works at the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey. “They’re informal so parents are more inclined to participate,” she said. Her being there gives the mostly low-income parents access to a speech therapist, at no charge.

With their children happily engaged in other activities, the dozen or so women use their time with Cervantes to ask for advice and to share their personal experiences. Some of the women prefer to just listen, and that’s okay.

Their concerns range from stuttering, language development, how to access services and the role of bilingual education, Cervantes told EGP.

“I have noticed that my son has trouble pronouncing words in Spanish even though he has no trouble in English,” Daisy Pocasangre, 42, said in Spanish. “For example, he couldn’t pronounce the word escuela (Spanish for school).”

Cervantes advised Pocasangre to not correct her four-year old son Anthony to avoid discouraging him from speaking, but to instead repeat and emphasize the word correctly in a question.

“The most natural part of that interaction is he will correct it without making it a negative experience,” the therapist responded in Spanish.

Some of the mothers wanted to know if being bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English would affect their child’s speech development.

Cervantes reassured the women that while it might appear in some cases that their child is developing more slowly, they would be fine.

She told the parents to be patient, because the child is doing “double the work.” Do not rush to assume there is a speech development problem, she said.

“They take time trying to translate it [words] in their heads,” she said. “If they’re doing double the work we give them more time to develop.”

There are times, however, when there is a need for intervention. And while a few of the women at Tuesday’s workshop noted they had had a child professionally evaluated and it was determined that the child needed speech therapy, the general consensus was accessing those types of services is very challenging, prompting Cervantes to provide referral phone numbers or her own business card to help direct the parents to the appropriate agency or resource.

“There’s quite a lot of red tape to get through, or they [the parents] just don’t know about the services,” Cervantes told EGP.

During the workshop, several of the children walked over to their mothers to hand them the bunny-shaped paper they had decorated or, as in the case of four-year-old Leonardo, to inform his mother Monica Romero, 32, that he would be playing with the other kids in the nearby children’s section.

In each case, the mother diverted her attention from the grown-up conversation to praise the child’s artwork, hugging the child before he or she ran off, and before returning her attention back to the discussion that had turned to overprotective mothers who don’t wait for their children to ask for what they want.

Thirty-six-year-old Norma Colon told the group that her two-year-old child rarely speaks, and instead points to what he wants.

Children develop at different times, Cervantes reassured Colon. However, by the time they are 2 years old, children should be using at least two words at a time to communicate, she added. But that may not be a sign of a speech development issue, “It can just be their personality… it can be the people around them,” she said.

“It’s part of our culture,” Cervantes said in Spanish. “It’s just part of motherly instinct, but you have to try to stop when you’re not busy and push them to ask for [what they want] themselves.”

The women agreed. “Every time we do something for them it’s a moment when they don’t do something for themselves,” Cervantes explained. “But I know it’s easier sometimes to just give them what they want.”

Leonardo seems drawn to children who speak English, said his mother, but sometimes he has trouble translating words to Spanish when he gets home. Romero asked Cervantes if she should continue talking to him in English and Spanish.

You can keep speaking both languages but don’t mix the two languages in the same sentence, responded Cervantes. “Say ‘Do you want milk’ and repeat in Spanish ‘Quieres leche?’” she told the women. “Don’t say ‘Quieres milk?’”

“They have the capability” to speak well in both languages, she emphasized. “Take the time teaching them the right word so they use it next time.”

The speech development workshop is held Tuesdays and is part of a month-long family workshop series offered by the Bell Gardens Library. Adults take part in the workshop discussions as their children take part in group activities. Weekly workshops are open to the public and cover many topics, such as the Head Start program, obesity and child literacy. They are aimed at parents with children up to the age of three.

For more information about the workshops, contact the Bell Gardens Library at (562) 927-1309.

Family Place Workshop Series at the Bell Gardens Library will be held every Tuesday in April from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. for children ages 0-3 and their parents. The workshops are designed to provide early childhood information, parent education, socialization and family support. The scheduled topics are:

• WIC – April 8

• Head Start – April 15

• Literacy – April 22

• Obesity Prevention – April 29

EGP’s Library series explores the way today’s libraries serve a larger role in the community by providing services beyond just a place to find books.

State public health officials are worried a large increase in the number of measles cases statewide is due to people intentionally avoiding vaccination for the highly preventable, but contagious viral disease.

There are 49 confirmed measles cases in California so far this year, the California Department of Public Health reported this week. That’s a significant increase from the four cases reported at the same time last year.

“This dramatic jump in the number of measles cases is a reminder to get fully vaccinated,” Dr. Ron Chapman, California’s public health director and state health officer, said in the statement released March 28. “Being fully vaccinated against measles does more than just protect the person who receives the vaccination — it also protects their family and friends, including children who may be too young to be vaccinated.”

Ten of the 49 cases reported were in Los Angeles County. Eleven cases statewide involved patients who had traveled to “parts of the world where outbreaks are actively occurring or where measles is widespread,” stated public health officials, further noting that in 30 of the 49 cases, the patient had contact with someone who had the illness.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that can be spread through the air, a cough or a sneeze. Symptoms include a fever that lasts for a couple of days, followed by a cough, runny nose, red, watery eyes and rash. Infants, pregnant women and people with impaired immune systems are more susceptible to measles complications, such as diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia and in severe cases, death. Measles are usually contagious for four days before and four days after the rash appears.

Public health experts credit California’s high immunization rates for keeping preventable diseases, like measles, at record lows – 4 to 40 a year for the past 20 years. Measles was “declared eliminated” in the U.S in 2000.

Children are recommended to get their first dose of MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine at 12 to 15 months, and a second dose before entering kindergarten. Adults born after 1957 who did not get two doses should get a booster. It is recommended that anyone planning to travel outside North or South America who has not been vaccinated should get the MMR vaccine before they leave.